Uber has launched a new mobile site that makes it easy for people to hail a cab without having the app installed on their phones, and to pay for their rides without a credit card or mobile wallet.
It’s currently live in a few Indian cities: Nagpur, Kochi, Guwahati, and Jodhpur. All you need to do is visit dial.uber.com using your browser, log in or sign up for Uber with your phone number and book a ride through the site.
You’ll then receive a call from your driver to coordinate your pickup. Once you’ve reached your destination, you can pay for your trip in cash.
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The new site should help Uber win over customers who don’t have room on their phones for another app; that’s not uncommon in some small cities in emerging markets. It could also help bring customers on board more easily by negating the need to download an app when they just want to try out the service for the first time.
It’ll be interesting to see if this works for Uber in India, where it faces competition from local rival Ola; it’s likely that it won’t take long for the incumbent company to follow Uber’s lead and launch a mobile booking site of its own.
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